The One O'clock Train
by ladybugbear2
Summary: It's another university AU because everyone does them. Belle is heading home on the one o'clock train. Dr. Gold is too.


**I posted this on AO3 and thought I'd post it here too… **

**My wonderful Beta was thelasthomelyurl **

The One O'clock Train

The idea of heading home on the one o'clock train did not appeal to Belle French in the slightest. She'd spent the past eight hours in the library trying to get in some last-minute studying before her test the next morning, and she honestly just didn't want to deal with drunk college students on their way to the next party. She'd quickly found out that college students didn't need a specific day of the week to go to the bar. Unfortunately, a quick check of her phone informed her that the temperature had dropped down to around two degrees Fahrenheit, and her apartment was simply too far from the school to walk in that kind of weather. She decided she'd really rather not add hypothermia to her list of things to deal with, and that meant taking the train.

Dr. Richard Gold was unsurprised to find that he'd stayed working past 12:30. He didn't have anyone to go home to, and his work restoring books in the university's rare books room tended to be much more interesting than sitting alone in an empty house. As a result, he often headed home in the early hours of the morning. Generally, he was able to take his Cadillac home, but on this particular morning the weather had been at a nice 49 degrees and as such he'd decided to take the 15 minute walk to the college. It wasn't supposed to get icy until late that night and he'd made a promise to himself that he would enjoy the brisk walk and get home before 10. However, the books had been much more interesting than checking the time on his phone and that was how he found himself walking, at 12:45 on a Thursday evening, to the train station to catch the one o'clock train.

Belle was more resigned than surprised when she saw that most seats were taken when she got on the train. It was one in the morning on a Thursday, and this was the best train to take to get to the Rabbit Hole, which was the only bar in town. (Having just one bar seemed rather stupid in a college town, but Belle's fellow students generally made up for it with house parties.) So when the only seat open was next to her literature professor, Dr. Gold, she took it without thinking. Naturally, she was barely settled in the seat when the train lurched forward, throwing her into her professor - the very professor she'd nursed a crush on since taking his class for the first time her sophomore year - and she realized that she should have stayed standing instead.

Gold had just settled into his seat with a book when he looked up to see Belle French boarding the train. He knew she had a test the next morning; he'd heard her talking about it to her friend Ruby Lucas in the hallway the day before. When she decided to sit next to him he was slightly more surprised, until he realized that there weren't any other open seats. Then the train had lurched forward and thrown her into him. He'd been able to catch her and right her, which had necessitated that he wrap his hands around her waist. And that was really something that he didn't need to have done. Belle French had taken his class twice in her tenure at Storybrooke University, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't slightly fallen in love with her. She always had an opinion and wasn't afraid to share it, and she had a tendency to come to his office hours with a list of questions that she needed answered. She was, it seemed, hell bent on learning everything she could and as such tended to be found in the faculty area more often than not. However, she was also about twenty-one years old - and therefore definitely off limits for someone on the wrong side of forty.

Belle was sure her face was glowing as Dr. Gold deposited her back into her seat. As if it wasn't enough to be thrown into her favorite professor, she had to turn bright red as well. She stuttered her thank you and turned forward as quickly as she could. The butterflies in her stomach from the brief moment he'd had his hands on her waist were rather annoying. He was in his forties, distinguished, and a doctor. There was no way he'd want someone who had just celebrated their twenty-second birthday. He was probably looking for a woman with experience, someone with at least one degree, if not a doctorate. She was set to graduate in the spring and that just didn't seem like something that would draw the eye of the esteemed literature professor. Shaking her head, she decided to focus on the book in her hands. Derek Storm was easier to think about than her confusing feelings for her professor.

Once Belle was settled back in her seat, she mumbled a thank you and quickly looked down at her book. Gold noticed that her cheeks were red, but he decided it must have been embarrassing to be seen with Dr. Gold's hands on her. He decided that it would probably be best for his sanity and his ego if he just ignored her for the duration of the ride. This task was fairly easy, until he felt her head drop to his shoulder. He was about to shake her awake when he thought better of it: she must have been exhausted to fall asleep on him like that. If her school things were anything to judge by, she hadn't gone home at all and had just gone straight to the library after her classes were finished. All the college students in town lived in the same general area, not as any sort of segregation, the apartments were just cheapest there. Which was fairly fortunate for him as he wouldn't have to wake her until it got closer to her stop.

Belle woke up with a start when she felt someone shake her shoulder. She looked around, dazed, before seeing that she was nearing her stop. Looking next to her, she realized she must have fallen asleep on Dr. Gold's shoulder. Her hand went to her mouth in shock.

"Dr. Gold - I am so sorry! I just studied for eight hours and I'm exhausted, and I must have fallen asleep. I am so, so sorry!"

"It's fine, Ms. French. It could have happened to anyone." He waved his hand in a familiar gesture she generally associated with waving off someone's excuses.

"I am seriously so sorry." She was stumbling over her words at this point.

"And it is seriously okay. No harm, no foul. Though perhaps you should get some sleep?"

"Yes, yes of course. Er, this is my stop." She started gathering her bags, and was mortified to feel her face burning again. She was about to head to the door when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Ms. French, please allow me to see you to your apartment. I would feel terrible if I let a student slip on the ice and break something because she was so tired she could barely stay awake on the train." His teasing eyes belied the seriousness of his words and she couldn't have been offended if she tried.

"Oh! Um, sure, if it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all, my dear."

She blinked in surprise at the term of endearment. He was rather well known for the fact that he called everyone dearie, and she didn't think she'd ever heard him call someone "my dear". She smiled down at her shoes as he gestured for her to lead the way off the train.

The offer to walk Belle home had been out of his mouth before his brain had had time to stop it. She was obviously exhausted and he would be remiss if he let her kill herself on the recently accumulated ice. He decided to ignore the fact that he'd just called her "my dear" instead of "dearie". It was a careless slip up on his part and he could only hope that she was too tired to notice it. The walk was fairly quiet with both of them focusing on not falling, but when they got to her apartment, she suddenly became chatty.

"Thank you again for this, Dr. Gold. I probably would have fallen. But um, well, I should be okay." She trailed off. "Unless… unless you want to come up for a cup of tea, or, or coffee, to warm you up before you head out again." She said this very quickly, and Gold had to lean in to hear all of it. By the time he caught what she had said, she was nervously twisting the edge of her coat. "I mean, you don't have to of course, I understand. You must want to get home." She turned to go inside.

"I'd love a cup of tea," he said quickly. He was being invited into Belle's apartment. And he might be a lecherous old man for agreeing, but even _he _ran out of willpower some time.

Belle whipped around so quickly he reached a hand out to steady her. "Really?"

"It _is _rather cold out. A cup of tea sounds divine."

"Oh good!" She opened the door to her apartment and he entered, feeling like he was stepping into territory from which he'd never be able to return.

**I'm so mean, I know. I'd say I'm sorry, but there's a chance I might update this in the future. Maybe. ****  
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